Cooperative communication processing method, enb, and system

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide a cooperative communication processing method, the method includes: acquiring report information of a first communication device, where the first communication device is a supporting device or a benefited device; and if it is determined, according to the report information of the first communication device, that the first communication device needs to perform a communication handover, executing the following steps: sending a connection configuration message to the first communication device, so that the first communication device releases a cooperative bearer context between the first communication device and a source eNB; and sending a connection configuration message to a second communication device. According to the present invention, release or maintenance processing of a cooperative relationship between cooperative communication devices in a communication handover process can be implemented.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2012/083441, filed on Oct. 24, 2012, which is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to wireless communications technologies,and in particular, to a cooperative communication processing method,eNB, and system.

BACKGROUND

With rapid development of mobile communications technologies, generallya mobile communication system can provide data communication services inaddition to basic voice communication services. A user equipment may usethe data communication services, which are provided by the mobilecommunication system, to upload and download various kinds of data.However, generally existing manners of mobile communication services areall to perform data transmission for a single user equipment. Even ifother enhanced communication means are used to increase reliabilityand/or a throughput rate of data transmission of a user equipment, forexample, coordinated multipoint transmission (COMP) is used to increasereliability of data transmission of a user equipment located at a celledge, and carrier aggregation (CA) is used to increase a throughput rateof the user equipment, operations are still targeted at a single userequipment. When an environment of a user equipment deteriorates, athroughput rate and/or reliability of data transmission of the userequipment decreases dramatically.

To solve the foregoing problem, a concept of cooperative communication,namely, cooperative communication between a single network node andmultiple users, which is also referred to as multi-user cooperativecommunication (MUCC), is put forward. In a cooperative communicationarchitecture, data sent by an eNB (evolved Node B) to a UE (userequipment) may be first sent to another UE near to the UE, and thenforwarded to a final destination UE by using a short-rangecommunications technology between the UEs. In this way, a UE having abest channel condition may be selected from several UEs for delivery, toachieve an effect of multi-user diversity. Existing cooperativecommunication has the following disadvantages: In a cooperativecommunication process, a UE (benefited UE or supporting UE) may need tobe handed over to a new eNB due to deterioration of a channel conditionor other reasons, and in this case, an existing cooperativecommunication relationship cannot be released or maintained during thehandover in the prior art.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide a cooperative communicationprocessing method, eNB, and system, which may implement release ormaintenance processing of a cooperative communication relationshipbetween cooperative communication devices in a communication handoverprocess.

According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a cooperative communication processing method, where the methodincludes:

acquiring report information of a first communication device, where thefirst communication device is a supporting device or a benefited device;and

if it is determined, according to the report information of the firstcommunication device, that the first communication device needs toperform a communication handover, executing the following steps:

sending a connection configuration message to the first communicationdevice, so that the first communication device releases a cooperativebearer context between the first communication device and a source eNB;and

sending a connection configuration message to a second communicationdevice, so that the second communication device releases a cooperativebearer context between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and a cooperative bearer context between the secondcommunication device and the source eNB, where the second communicationdevice is a cooperative communication device of the first communicationdevice.

In a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after itis determined, according to the report information of the firstcommunication device, that the first communication device needs toperform the communication handover, and before the sending a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device, the methodfurther includes:

confirming that all bearer contexts of the first communication deviceare cooperative bearer contexts.

In a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after itis determined, according to the report information of the firstcommunication device, that the first communication device needs toperform the communication handover, and before the sending a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device, the methodfurther includes:

confirming that a bearer context of the first communication deviceincludes a non-cooperative bearer context;

sending a handover request message to a handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, where the handover request message includes afirst bearer context between the source eNB and the first communicationdevice, and the first bearer context includes a non-cooperative bearercontext between the source eNB and the first communication device; and

receiving a handover acknowledge message from the handover target eNB ofthe first communication device, where the handover acknowledge messageincludes a second bearer context that is allocated to the firstcommunication device according to the first bearer context by thehandover target eNB of the first communication device; and

the sending a connection configuration message to the firstcommunication device includes:

sending the connection configuration message to the first communicationdevice, where the connection configuration message carries the secondbearer context that is allocated to the first communication device bythe handover target eNB of the first communication device, so that thefirst communication device initiates a random access procedure to thehandover target eNB of the first communication device according to thesecond bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice by the handover target eNB of the first communication device.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the first bearercontext further includes the cooperative bearer context between thesource eNB and the first communication device.

In a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, beforethe sending a connection configuration message to the firstcommunication device, the method further includes:

sending a handover request message to a handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, where the handover request message includes afirst bearer context between the source eNB and the first communicationdevice, and the first bearer context includes the cooperative bearercontext and a non-cooperative bearer context between the source eNB andthe first communication device; and

receiving a handover acknowledge message from the handover target eNB ofthe first communication device, where the handover acknowledge messageincludes a second bearer context that is allocated to the firstcommunication device according to the first bearer context by thehandover target eNB of the first communication device; and

the sending a connection configuration message to the firstcommunication device includes:

sending the connection configuration message to the first communicationdevice, where the connection configuration message carries the secondbearer context that is allocated to the first communication device bythe handover target eNB of the first communication device, so that thefirst communication device initiates a random access procedure to thehandover target eNB of the first communication device according to thesecond bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice by the handover target eNB of the first communication device.

With reference to the second or fourth possible implementation manner ofthe first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, before thesending a connection configuration message to a second communicationdevice, the method further includes:

after the handover acknowledge message is received from the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device, when a first time intervalreaches a threshold, confirming that the second communication device isstill served by the source eNB.

With reference to the second or fourth possible implementation manner ofthe first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, thehandover acknowledge message further includes a eNB identifier of thehandover target eNB of the first communication device and a radionetwork temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, and the method further includes:

saving, in the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device that is saved in the source eNB, the eNB identifierof the handover target eNB of the first communication device and theradio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the method furtherincludes:

acquiring report information of the second communication device;

determining, according to the acquired report information of the secondcommunication device, whether the second communication device needs toperform handover processing; and

if the second communication device needs to perform the handoverprocessing, sending a handover request message to a handover target eNBof the second communication device, where the handover request messageincludes the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device, the eNB identifier of the handover target eNB ofthe first communication device, and the radio network temporaryidentifier that is allocated to the first communication device by thehandover target eNB of the first communication device.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a cooperative communication processing method, where the methodincludes:

acquiring a handover request message sent by a source eNB, where thehandover request message includes a first bearer context between thesource eNB and a first communication device that needs to perform acommunication handover, and a supporting device or a benefited device;

allocating a second bearer context to the first communication deviceaccording to the bearer context between the source eNB and the firstcommunication device in the handover request message; and

sending a handover acknowledge message to the source eNB, where thehandover acknowledge message includes the second bearer contextallocated to the first communication device, so that a connectionconfiguration message sent by the source eNB to the first communicationdevice carries the second bearer context allocated to the firstcommunication device, and the first communication device initiates arandom access procedure according to the second bearer context allocatedto the first communication device.

In a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, themethod further includes:

allocating a radio network temporary identifier to the firstcommunication device; where

the handover acknowledge message further includes a eNB identifier of ahandover target eNB and the radio network temporary identifier that isallocated to the first communication device, so that the source eNBsaves, in a bearer context between the source eNB and a secondcommunication device, the eNB identifier of the handover target eNB andthe radio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device, where the second communication device is acooperative communication device of the first communication device.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the method furtherincludes:

after the handover acknowledge message is sent to the source eNB, when asecond time interval reaches a threshold, determining that a handoverrequest message for the second communication device is received, wherethe handover request message for the second communication deviceincludes the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device, the eNB identifier of the handover target eNB, andthe radio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device; and

if it is confirmed, according to the eNB identifier of the handovertarget eNB in the handover request message, that the first communicationdevice is still served by the current eNB, performing cooperativecommunication pairing for the first communication device and the secondcommunication device according to the radio network temporaryidentifier, which is allocated to the first communication device, in thehandover request message for the second communication device; or

if it is confirmed, according to the eNB identifier of the handovertarget eNB in the handover request message, that the first communicationdevice is not served by the current eNB, sending a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device, so that thefirst communication device releases all cooperative bearer contexts.

In a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, themethod further includes:

acquiring report information of the first communication device;

after the handover acknowledge message is sent to the source eNB, when athird time interval reaches a threshold, determining, according to thereport information of the first communication device, whether the firstcommunication device needs to perform a communication handover to asecond target eNB, and if the first communication device needs toperform the communication handover to the second target eNB, sending ahandover request message to the second target eNB, where the handoverrequest message includes a non-cooperative bearer context between thehandover target eNB and the first communication device;

acquiring a handover acknowledge message returned by the second targeteNB, where the handover acknowledge message includes a bearer contextthat is allocated to the first communication device by the second targeteNB; and

sending a connection configuration message to the first communicationdevice, where the connection configuration message carries the bearercontext that is allocated to the first communication device by thesecond target eNB, so that the first communication device releases acooperative bearer context and initiates a random access procedure tothe second target eNB according to the bearer context that is allocatedto the first communication device by the second target eNB.

According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionfurther provides a source eNB for implementing cooperative communicationprocessing, where the source eNB includes:

a report information acquiring module, configured to acquire reportinformation of a first communication device, where the firstcommunication device is a supporting device or a benefited device, and acooperative communication device of the first communication device is asecond communication device;

a handover confirming module, configured to determine, according to thereport information of the first communication device acquired by thereport information acquiring module, whether the first communicationdevice needs to perform a communication handover;

a first configuring module, configured to send a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device when thehandover confirming module confirms that the first communication deviceneeds to perform the communication handover, so that the firstcommunication device releases a cooperative bearer context between thefirst communication device and the source eNB; and

a second configuring module, configured to send a connectionconfiguration message to the second communication device when thehandover confirming module confirms that the first communication deviceneeds to perform the communication handover, so that the secondcommunication device releases a cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the first communication device and acooperative bearer context between the second communication device andthe source eNB, where the second communication device is the cooperativecommunication device of the first communication device.

In a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, thesource eNB further includes:

a cooperative bearer determining module, configured to confirm that allbearer contexts of the first communication device are cooperative bearercontexts, when the handover confirming module confirms that the firstcommunication device needs to perform the communication handover.

In a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, thesource eNB further includes:

a cooperative bearer determining module, configured to confirm that abearer context of the first communication device includes anon-cooperative bearer context, when the handover confirming moduleconfirms that the first communication device needs to perform thecommunication handover;

a handover request sending module, configured to send a handover requestmessage to a handover target eNB of the first communication device whenthe cooperative bearer determining module confirms that the bearercontext of the first communication device includes a non-cooperativebearer context, where the handover request message includes a firstbearer context between the source eNB and the first communicationdevice, and the first bearer context includes a non-cooperative bearercontext between the source eNB and the first communication device; and

a handover acknowledge receiving module, configured to receive ahandover acknowledge message from the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, where the handover acknowledge message includes asecond bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice according to the first bearer context by the handover target eNBof the first communication device; where

the first configuring module is specifically configured to:

when the cooperative bearer determining module determines that thebearer context of the first communication device includes anon-cooperative bearer context, send the connection configurationmessage to the first communication device, where the connectionconfiguration message carries the second bearer context that isallocated to the first communication device by the handover target eNBof the first communication device, so that the first communicationdevice initiates a random access procedure to the handover target eNB ofthe first communication device according to the second bearer contextthat is allocated to the first communication device by the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device and received by thehandover acknowledge receiving module.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the first bearercontext further includes the cooperative bearer context between thesource eNB and the first communication device.

In a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, thesource eNB further includes:

a handover request sending module, configured to send a handover requestmessage to a handover target eNB of the first communication device,where the handover request message includes a first bearer contextbetween the source eNB and the first communication device, and the firstbearer context includes the cooperative bearer context and anon-cooperative bearer context between the source eNB and the firstcommunication device; and

a handover acknowledge receiving module, configured to receive ahandover acknowledge message from the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, where the handover acknowledge message includes asecond bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice according to the first bearer context by the handover target eNBof the first communication device; where

the first configuring module is specifically configured to:

send the connection configuration message to the first communicationdevice, where the connection configuration message carries the secondbearer context that is allocated to the first communication device bythe handover target eNB of the first communication device and receivedby the handover acknowledge receiving module, so that the firstcommunication device initiates a random access procedure to the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device according to the secondbearer context that is allocated to the first communication device bythe handover target eNB of the first communication device.

With reference to the second or fourth possible implementation manner ofthe third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the sourceeNB further includes:

a first determining module, configured to: after the handoveracknowledge receiving module receives the handover acknowledge messagefrom the handover target eNB of the first communication device, when afirst time interval reaches a threshold, determine whether the secondcommunication device is still served by the source eNB, and if thesecond communication device is still served by the source eNB, triggerthe second configuring module to send the connection configurationmessage to the second communication device.

With reference to the second or fourth possible implementation manner ofthe third aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, thehandover acknowledge message received by the handover acknowledgereceiving module further includes a eNB identifier of the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device and a radio networktemporary identifier that is allocated to the first communication deviceby the handover target eNB of the first communication device, and thesource eNB further includes:

a radio network temporary identifier saving module, configured to save,in the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device that is saved in the source eNB, the eNB identifierof the handover target eNB of the first communication device and theradio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the reportinformation acquiring module is further configured to acquire reportinformation of the second communication device;

the handover confirming module is further configured to determine,according to the acquired report information of the second communicationdevice, whether the second communication device needs to performhandover processing; and

the handover request sending module is further configured to send ahandover request message to a handover target eNB of the secondcommunication device when the handover confirming module confirms thatthe second communication device needs to perform a communicationhandover, where the handover request message includes the bearer contextbetween the source eNB and the second communication device, the eNBidentifier of the handover target eNB of the first communication device,and the radio network temporary identifier that is allocated to thefirst communication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device.

According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionfurther provides a handover target eNB for implementing cooperativecommunication processing, where the handover target eNB includes:

a handover request acquiring module, configured to acquire a handoverrequest message sent by a source eNB, where the handover request messageincludes a first bearer context between the source eNB and a firstcommunication device that needs to perform a communication handover, andthe first communication device is a supporting device or a benefiteddevice;

a bearer allocating module, configured to allocate a second bearercontext to the first communication device according to the first bearercontext between the source eNB and the first communication device in thehandover request message; and

a handover acknowledge sending module, configured to send a handoveracknowledge message to the source eNB, where the handover acknowledgemessage includes the second bearer context allocated to the firstcommunication device, so that a connection configuration message sent bythe source eNB to the first communication device carries the secondbearer context allocated to the first communication device, and thefirst communication device initiates a random access procedure accordingto the second bearer context allocated to the first communicationdevice.

In a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, thehandover target eNB further includes:

a radio network temporary identifier allocating module, configured toallocate a radio network temporary identifier to the first communicationdevice; where

the handover acknowledge message sent by the handover acknowledgesending module to the source eNB further includes a eNB identifier ofthe handover target eNB and the radio network temporary identifier thatis allocated to the first communication device, so that the source eNBsaves, in a bearer context between the source eNB and a secondcommunication device, the eNB identifier of the handover target eNB andthe radio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device, where the second communication device is acooperative communication device of the first communication device.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the handover targeteNB further includes:

a second determining module, configured to: after the handoveracknowledge sending module sends the handover acknowledge message to thesource eNB, when a second time interval reaches a threshold, determinewhether a handover request message for the second communication deviceis received and whether the first communication device is still servedby the handover target eNB, where the handover request message for thesecond communication device includes the bearer context between thesource eNB and the second communication device, the eNB identifier ofthe handover target eNB, and the radio network temporary identifier thatis allocated to the first communication device;

a pairing synthesizing module, configured to: when a determining resultof the second determining module is yes, perform cooperativecommunication pairing for the first communication device and the secondcommunication device according to the radio network temporaryidentifier, which is allocated to the first communication device, in thehandover request message for the second communication device; and

a third configuring module, configured to: when a determining result ofthe second determining module is no, send a connection configurationmessage to the first communication device, so that the firstcommunication device releases all cooperative bearer contexts.

In a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, thehandover target eNB further includes:

a report information acquiring module, configured to acquire reportinformation of the first communication device;

a third determining module, configured to: after the handoveracknowledge sending module sends the handover acknowledge message to thesource eNB, when a third time interval expires, determine, according tothe report information of the first communication device, whether thefirst communication device needs to perform a communication handover toa second target eNB;

a handover request sending module, configured to send a handover requestmessage to the second target eNB when a determining result of the thirddetermining module is yes, where the handover request message includes anon-cooperative bearer context between the handover target eNB and thefirst communication device;

a handover acknowledge receiving module, configured to acquire ahandover acknowledge message returned by the second target eNB, wherethe handover acknowledge message includes a bearer context that isallocated to the first communication device by the second target eNBaccording to the non-cooperative bearer context between the handovertarget eNB and the first communication device; and

a fourth configuring module, configured to send a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device, where theconnection configuration message carries the bearer context that isallocated to the first communication device by the second target eNB, sothat the first communication device releases a cooperative bearercontext and initiates a random access procedure to the second target eNBaccording to the bearer context that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the second target eNB.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionfurther provides a cooperative communication processing method, wherethe method includes:

sending, by a first communication device, report information to a sourceeNB, so that the source eNB confirms, according to the reportinformation, that the first communication device needs to perform acommunication handover, where the first communication device is asupporting device or a benefited device;

receiving, by the first communication device, a connection configurationmessage from the source eNB after the source eNB confirms that the firstcommunication device needs to perform the communication handover; andreleasing, by the first communication device, a cooperative bearercontext between the first communication device and the source eNBaccording to the connection configuration message.

In a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, themethod further includes:

releasing, by the first communication device, a cooperative bearercontext between the first communication device and a secondcommunication device according to the connection configuration message,where the second communication device is a cooperative communicationdevice of the first communication device.

In a second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, theconnection configuration message acquired from the source eNB furtherincludes a bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice by a handover target eNB of the first communication device; and

the method further includes:

initiating, by the first communication device, a random access procedureto the handover target eNB according to the bearer context that isallocated to the first communication device by the handover target eNB.

According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionfurther provides a cooperative communication processing method, wherethe method includes:

receiving, by a second communication device, a connection configurationmessage from a source eNB, where the second communication device is asupporting device or a benefited device; and

releasing, by the second communication device, a cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and a firstcommunication device and a cooperative bearer context between the secondcommunication device and the source eNB according to the connectionconfiguration message, where the first communication device is acooperative communication device of the second communication device.

In a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, themethod further includes:

sending, by the second communication device, report information to thesource eNB, so that the source eNB confirms, according to the reportinformation, that the second communication device needs to perform acommunication handover.

According to a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionfurther provides a communication device, where the communication deviceis a supporting device or a benefited device, and the communicationdevice includes:

a report information sending module, configured to send reportinformation to a source eNB, so that the source eNB confirms, accordingto the report information, that the communication device needs toperform a communication handover;

a connection configuration acquiring module, configured to receive aconnection configuration message from the source eNB after the sourceeNB confirms that the communication device needs to perform thecommunication handover; and

a bearer releasing module, configured to release a cooperative bearercontext between the communication device and the source eNB according tothe connection configuration message that is acquired by the connectionconfiguration acquiring module.

In a first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, thebearer releasing module is further configured to release a cooperativebearer context between the communication device and a secondcommunication device according to the connection configuration message,where the second communication device is a cooperative communicationdevice of the communication device.

In a second possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, theconnection configuration message acquired by the connectionconfiguration acquiring module from the source eNB further includes abearer context that is allocated to the communication device by ahandover target eNB of the communication device; and

the communication device further includes:

a random access module, configured to initiate a random access procedureto the handover target eNB according to the bearer context that isallocated to the communication device by the handover target eNB.

According to an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionfurther provides a communication device, where the communication deviceis a supporting device or a benefited device, and the communicationdevice includes:

a connection configuration acquiring module, configured to receive aconnection configuration message from a source eNB; and

a bearer releasing module, configured to release a cooperative bearercontext between the communication device and a first communicationdevice and a cooperative bearer context between the communication deviceand the source eNB according to the connection configuration message,where the first communication device is a cooperative communicationdevice of the communication device.

In a first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect, thecommunication device further includes:

a report information sending module, configured to send reportinformation to the source eNB, so that the source eNB confirms,according to the report information, that the communication device needsto perform a communication handover.

According to a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionfurther provides a cooperative communication system, including the firstcommunication device provided in the seventh aspect, the secondcommunication device provided in the eighth aspect, the source eNBprovided in the third aspect, and the handover target eNB provided inthe fourth aspect in the embodiments of the present invention, where thefirst communication device and the second communication device aremutually cooperative communication devices.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, when a source eNBdetermines that either one of cooperative communication devices needs toperform a communication handover, the source eNB sends a connectionconfiguration message to each of two devices, so that the two devicesrelease a cooperative bearer context. Therefore, release processing of acooperative communication relationship between cooperative communicationdevices in a communication handover process is implemented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentinvention or in the prior art more clearly, the following brieflyintroduces the accompanying drawings required for describing theembodiments or the prior art. Apparently, the accompanying drawings inthe following description show merely some embodiments of the presentinvention, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may still deriveother drawings from these accompanying drawings without creativeefforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of acooperative communication system according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a source eNBaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a source eNBaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a handovertarget eNB according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a source eNBaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a handovertarget eNB according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of a cooperative communicationprocessing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 a and FIG. 8 b are schematic flowcharts of a cooperativecommunication processing method according to another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 a to FIG. 9 c are schematic flowcharts of a cooperativecommunication processing method according to another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a firstcommunication device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a secondcommunication device according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following clearly describes the technical solutions in theembodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Apparently, thedescribed embodiments are merely a part rather than all of theembodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained bya person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of thepresent invention without creative efforts shall fall within theprotection scope of the present invention.

In the embodiments of the present invention, when two or more UEs (userequipment, user equipment) all support both a short-range communicationstechnology and a cellular communications technology, a MUCC relationshipmay be established between the UEs. The short-range communicationstechnology may be, for example, Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) or Bluetooth(Bluetooth technology), and the cellular communications technology maybe, for example, LTE (Long Term Evolution), 3G UMTS (Universal MobileTelecommunications System) or CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), 2GGSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), or WiMAX (WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access). For example, when a UE needs tosend or receive data, to increase reliability and a throughput rate, oneor more additional UEs (which may be referred to as supporting UEs, orassisting UEs, and are UEs used to perform data forwarding to assist abenefited UE) may support the UE (which is referred to as a benefitedUE, or an assisted UE, and is a final data sender/receiver and user),and assist the UE in communication. The UEs are located in a same rangefor a short-distance connection. During downlink data transmission, anetwork may send the downlink data to each of the UEs (an optimizedmethod is that, during network scheduling, a UE having a best radio linkcondition is always selected for sending). If the data does not reachthe final benefited UE, a supporting UE receiving the data sends thedata to the benefited UE by means of short-range communication (forexample, Wi-Fi). Certainly, the data may also directly reach thebenefited UE. The benefited UE may combine the data. Likewise, uplinkdata of the benefited UE may be sent to the network through thebenefited UE or another supporting UE, and then the network combines thedata to complete cooperative communication between UEs. Concepts of thebenefited UE and the supporting UE are viewed from the perspective of abearer of the benefited UE. For example, a UE1 and a UE2 constitute aMUCC relationship, and they may assist each other in communication. Inthis way, from the perspective of a bearer of the UE1, the UE2 maysupport the bearer of the UE1, and therefore, the UE1 is a benefited UE,and the UE2 is a supporting UE. Meanwhile, the UE1 may also support abearer of the UE2, and therefore, from the perspective of the bearer ofthe UE2, the UE2 is a benefited UE, and the UE1 is a supporting UE.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of acooperative communication system according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown in the figure, the cooperative communicationsystem in the present invention includes a source eNB 10 and a handovertarget eNB 20. The source eNB 10 includes at least one pair ofcooperative communication devices: a supporting device 50 used as acommunication data forwarding device and a benefited device 40 used as acommunication data destination device, and may further include anothercooperative communication device, where the supporting device 50 mayalso have another benefited device correspondingly, and the benefiteddevice 40 may also have another supporting device.

The source eNB 10 is configured to acquire report information of thesupporting device 50 and report information of the benefited device 40,and may confirm, according to the report information of the supportingdevice 50 and the report information of the benefited device 40, whetherthe supporting device 50 or the benefited device 40 needs to perform acommunication handover. The report information in the embodiment of thepresent invention includes but is not limited to information such assignal quality or strength of a current cell and a neighboring cell. Ifthe signal quality or strength of the current cell is less than athreshold, or is poorer than that of the neighboring cell, and adifference exceeds a threshold, it may be confirmed that the supportingdevice 50 or the benefited device 40 needs to perform a communicationhandover. After it is confirmed that the supporting device 50 or thebenefited device 40 needs to perform the communication handover, aconnection configuration message may be sent to each of the two devices,so that the supporting device 50 and the benefited device 40 releasecooperative bearer contexts. In the embodiment of the present invention,the supporting device 50 or the benefited device 40 may be handed overto the handover target eNB 20. A bearer context in the embodiment of thepresent invention refers to related information of an air interfacebearer, and mainly includes a related configuration parameter in aprotocol stack for establishing the air interface bearer, and is savedin each of devices at two ends of the bearer. Bearer contexts mayinclude a cooperative bearer context and a non-cooperative bearercontext. The non-cooperative bearer context is related information of anair interface bearer established between a device and a eNB forcommunication of the device, and the cooperative bearer context includesrelated information of an air interface bearer that is establishedbetween a supporting device and a eNB to assist a benefited device andrelated information of a short-range bearer between the supportingdevice and the benefited device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a source eNBaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. The source eNBshown in the figure is a source eNB, including a report informationacquiring module 201, a handover confirming module 202, a firstconfiguring module 203, and a second configuring module 204.

The report information acquiring module 201 is configured to acquirereport information of a first communication device, where the firstcommunication device is a supporting device or a benefited device. Inspecific implementation, the report information may include but is notlimited to information such as signal quality or strength of a currentcell in which the first communication device is located and signalquality or strength of a neighboring cell.

The handover confirming module 202 is configured to determine, accordingto the report information of the first communication device, whether thefirst communication device needs to perform a communication handover. Inspecific implementation, the handover confirming module 202 of thesource eNB may determine, according to the report information of thefirst communication device acquired by the report information acquiringmodule 201, whether the first communication device needs to perform thecommunication handover. If the signal quality or strength of the currentcell in which the first communication device is located is less than athreshold, or is poorer than that of the neighboring cell, and adifference exceeds a threshold, it may be confirmed that the firstcommunication device needs to perform the communication handover.

The first configuring module 203 is configured to send a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device when thehandover confirming module 202 confirms that the first communicationdevice needs to perform the communication handover, so that the firstcommunication device releases a cooperative bearer context between thefirst communication device and the source eNB, and the firstcommunication device releases a cooperative bearer context between thefirst communication device and a second communication device. Aconnection configuration process in the present invention may includemay include at least one signaling interaction between a eNB and acommunication device. Delivery of the connection configuration messagemay be completed through multiple back-and-forth message interactions,so that the communication device performs a radio resource configurationaccording to the connection configuration message. Specifically, theconnection configuration message sent by the first configuring module203 to the first communication device may be an RRC (Radio ResourceControl, Radio Resource Control) connection reconfiguration message, toinstruct the first communication device to perform a bearer contextreconfiguration, including releasing a bearer context that needs to bereconfigured. In this embodiment, the first communication device isinstructed to release the cooperative bearer context between the firstcommunication device and the source eNB, and the first communicationdevice may further be instructed to release the cooperative bearercontext between the first communication device and the secondcommunication device. Bearer contexts of the first communication deviceinclude cooperative bearer contexts and non-cooperative bearer contexts,where the cooperative bearer contexts of the first communication deviceinclude the cooperative bearer context between the first communicationdevice and the second communication device and the cooperative bearercontext between the first communication device and the source eNB. Whenthe first communication device further has a cooperative communicationrelationship with another communication device, the bearer contextsfurther include a cooperative bearer context between the firstcommunication device and the another cooperative communication device.In another embodiment, for example, when the first communication devicehas only a cooperative bearer context, the connection configurationmessage sent by the first configuring module 203 to the firstcommunication device may also be an RRC connection release message, toinstruct the first communication device to release all bearer contexts.

The second configuring module 204 is configured to send a connectionconfiguration message to the second communication device when thehandover confirming module 202 confirms that the first communicationdevice needs to perform the communication handover, so that the secondcommunication device releases the cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the first communication device and acooperative bearer context between the second communication device andthe source eNB. The second communication device is a cooperativecommunication device of the first communication device. When the firstcommunication device is a supporting device, a cooperative communicationdevice of the first communication device, that is, the secondcommunication device, is a benefited device. When the firstcommunication device is a benefited device, a cooperative communicationdevice of the first communication device, that is the secondcommunication device, is a supporting device. Specifically, theconnection configuration message sent by the second configuring module204 to the second communication device may be an RRC connectionreconfiguration message, to instruct the second communication device toperform a bearer context reconfiguration, including releasing a bearercontext that needs to be reconfigured. In this embodiment, the secondcommunication device is instructed to release the cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and the cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the source eNB. Bearer contexts of thesecond communication device include cooperative bearer contexts andnon-cooperative bearer contexts, where the cooperative bearer contextsof the second communication device include the cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and the cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the source eNB. When the secondcommunication device further has a cooperative communicationrelationship with another communication device, the bearer contextsfurther include a cooperative bearer context between the secondcommunication device and the another cooperative communication device.Optionally, the second configuring module 204 may perform cooperativecommunication pairing for the second communication device again aftersending the connection configuration message to the second communicationdevice.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a source eNBaccording to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown inthe figure, the source eNB in the embodiment includes a reportinformation acquiring module 301, a handover confirming module 302, afirst configuring module 303, a second configuring module 304, acooperative bearer determining module 305, a handover request sendingmodule 306, and a handover acknowledge receiving module 307.

The report information acquiring module 301, the handover confirmingmodule 302, and the second configuring module 304 are the same as thereport information acquiring module 201, the handover confirming module202, and the second configuring module 204 respectively in the foregoingembodiment, and are not further described in this embodiment.

The cooperative bearer determining module 305 is configured to confirmthat all bearer contexts of the first communication device arecooperative bearer contexts, when the handover confirming module 302confirms that the first communication device needs to perform thecommunication handover. The first communication device is acommunication device that needs to perform a communication handover inthis embodiment, and may be a supporting device or a benefited device,and a cooperative communication device of the first communication deviceis a second communication device.

The handover request sending module 306 is configured to send a handoverrequest message to a handover target eNB of the first communicationdevice when the cooperative bearer determining module 305 determinesthat the bearer context of the first communication device includes anon-cooperative bearer context, where the handover request messageincludes a non-cooperative bearer context between the source eNB and thefirst communication device. Further, optionally, the handover requestmessage sent by the handover request sending module 306 to the handovertarget eNB may further include a cooperative bearer context between thesource eNB and the first communication device, that is, all the bearercontexts of the first communication device are handed over to thehandover target eNB.

The handover acknowledge receiving module 307 is configured to receive ahandover acknowledge message from the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, where the handover acknowledge message includes abearer context that is allocated to the first communication device bythe handover target eNB of the first communication device. Specifically,after receiving the handover request message sent by the handoverrequest sending module 306, the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device allocates a corresponding second bearer context tothe first communication device according to a first bearer contextbetween the source eNB and the first communication device that iscarried in the handover request message. That is, if the handoverrequest message carries only the non-cooperative bearer context betweenthe source eNB and the first communication device, the handover targeteNB of the first communication device also allocates only acorresponding non-cooperative bearer context to the first communicationdevice; and if the handover request message carries all bearer contextsbetween the source eNB and the first communication device, the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device also allocates allcorresponding bearer contexts to the first communication device.

The first configuring module 303 is configured to send a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device. When thecooperative bearer determining module 305 determines that all the bearercontexts of the first communication device are cooperative bearercontexts, the connection configuration message sent by the firstconfiguring module 303 to the first communication device is used toinstruct the first communication device to release the cooperativebearer context between the first communication device and the source eNBand the cooperative bearer context between the first communicationdevice and the second communication device; and when the cooperativebearer determining module 305 determines that the bearer context of thefirst communication device includes a non-cooperative bearer context,the connection configuration message sent by the first configuringmodule 303 to the first communication device carries the bearer contextthat is allocated to the first communication device by the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device, and is used to instructthe first communication device to release the cooperative bearer contextbetween the first communication device and the source eNB and initiate arandom access procedure to the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device according to the bearer context that is allocatedto the first communication device by the handover target eNB of thefirst communication device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a handovertarget eNB according to another embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in the figure, the target eNB in the embodiment includes at leasta handover request acquiring module 401, a bearer allocating module 402,and a handover acknowledge sending module 403.

The handover request acquiring module 401 is configured to acquire ahandover request message sent by a source eNB, where the handoverrequest message includes the first bearer context between the source eNBand a first communication device that needs to perform a communicationhandover, the first communication device is a supporting device or abenefited device, and a cooperative communication device of the firstcommunication device is a second communication device.

The bearer allocating module 402 is configured to allocate a secondbearer context to the first communication device according to a firstbearer context between the source eNB and the first communication devicein the handover request message. Specifically, after the handoverrequest acquiring module 401 receives the handover request message sentby the source eNB, the bearer allocating module 402 allocates thecorresponding second bearer context to the first communication deviceaccording to the first bearer context between the source eNB and thefirst communication device that is carried in the handover requestmessage. That is, if the handover request message carries only anon-cooperative bearer context between the source eNB and the firstcommunication device, the handover target eNB of the first communicationdevice also allocates only a corresponding non-cooperative bearercontext to the first communication device; and if the handover requestmessage carries all bearer contexts between the source eNB and the firstcommunication device, the handover target eNB of the first communicationdevice also allocates all corresponding bearer contexts to the firstcommunication device.

The handover acknowledge sending module 403 is configured to send ahandover acknowledge message to the source eNB, where the handoveracknowledge message includes the second bearer context allocated to thefirst communication device by the bearer allocating module 402, so thata connection configuration message sent by the source eNB to the firstcommunication device carries the second bearer context allocated to thefirst communication device, and the first communication device initiatesa random access procedure according to the second bearer contextallocated to the first communication device by the bearer allocatingmodule 402.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a source eNBaccording to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown inthe figure, the source eNB in the embodiment includes at least a reportinformation acquiring module 501, a handover confirming module 502, afirst configuring module 503, a second configuring module 504, ahandover request sending module 505, a handover acknowledge receivingmodule 506, a first determining module 507, and a radio networktemporary identifier saving module 508.

The report information acquiring module 501 is configured to acquirereport information of a first communication device and reportinformation of a second communication device, where the reportinformation may include information such as signal quality or strengthof a current cell in which the first communication device is located,signal quality or strength of a current cell in which the secondcommunication device is located, and signal quality or strength of aneighboring cell. The first communication device and the secondcommunication device are mutually cooperative communication devices. Thefirst communication device is a communication device that first needs toperform a communication handover in this embodiment, and may be asupporting device or a benefited device. The second communication deviceis a cooperative communication device of the first communication device.When the first communication device is a supporting device, acooperative communication device of the first communication device, thatis, the second communication device, is a benefited device. When thesecond communication device is a benefited device, a cooperativecommunication device of the second communication device, that is, thesecond communication device, is a supporting device.

The handover confirming module 502 is configured to respectivelydetermine, according to the report information of the firstcommunication device and the report information of the secondcommunication device, whether the first communication device and thesecond communication device need to perform a communication handover.Because the first communication device and the second communicationdevice may be supporting devices or benefited devices in differentembodiments, in this embodiment, one of the two communication devicesthat is confirmed to first need to perform a communication handover isset to the first communication device, and a cooperative communicationdevice of the first communication device is set to the secondcommunication device.

The handover request sending module 505 is configured to send a handoverrequest message to a handover target eNB of the first communicationdevice when the handover confirming module 502 confirms that the firstcommunication device needs to perform the communication handover, wherethe handover request message for the first communication device includesa first bearer context between the source eNB and the firstcommunication device; and the handover request sending module 505 isconfigured to send a handover request message to a handover target eNBof the second communication device when the handover confirming module502 confirms that the second communication device needs to perform thecommunication handover, where the handover request message for thesecond communication device may include a first bearer context betweenthe source eNB and the second communication device, and may furtherinclude a eNB identifier of the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device and a radio network temporary identifier that isallocated to the first communication device by the handover target eNBof the first communication device, in order to notify the handovertarget eNB of the second communication device that the cooperativecommunication device of the second communication device currentlyrequesting to be handed over has performed a communication handover,where the eNB identifier and the radio network temporary identifier aresaved in the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device by the radio network temporary identifier savingmodule 508. Further, the handover target eNB of the first communicationdevice and the handover target eNB of the second communication devicemay be a same target eNB, or may be different target eNBs. If thehandover target eNB of the second communication device is the same as ahandover target of the first communication device, it indicates that thesecond communication device is handed over to the same target eNB as thefirst communication device, and in this case, the handover target eNB ofthe two communication devices may perform cooperative communicationpairing for the two communication devices. Further, in this embodiment,the bearer context between the source eNB and the first communicationdevice or the second communication device in the handover requestmessage may include a non-cooperative bearer context and a cooperativebearer context, that is, all bearer contexts of the first communicationdevice or the second communication device are handed over to arespective handover target eNB.

The handover acknowledge receiving module 506 is configured to receive ahandover acknowledge message from the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device or receive a handover acknowledge message from thehandover target eNB of the second communication device, where thehandover acknowledge message for the first communication device includesa second bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice by the handover target eNB of the first communication device, theeNB identifier of the handover target eNB of the first communicationdevice, and the radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI, Cell-RadioNetwork Temporary Identifier) that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device. Specifically, after receiving the handover requestmessage sent by the handover request sending module 505, the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device allocates the correspondingsecond bearer context to the first communication device according to thefirst bearer context between the source eNB and the first communicationdevice that is carried in the handover request message, and furtherallocates the radio network temporary identifier to the firstcommunication device. Likewise, content of the handover acknowledgemessage for the second communication device is similar to that of thehandover acknowledge message for the first communication device, and isnot further described herein.

The first determining module 507 is configured to: after the handoveracknowledge receiving module 506 receives the handover acknowledgemessage from the handover target eNB of the first communication device,when a first time interval expires, determine whether the secondcommunication device is still served by the source eNB, and if thesecond communication device is still served by the source eNB, triggerthe second configuring module 504 to send a connection configurationmessage to the second communication device. The first time interval is atime period for reserving a cooperative bearer context of the secondcommunication device by the source eNB. Sometimes, the secondcommunication device is handed over together with the firstcommunication device, and in this case, the cooperative bearer contextin the second communication device actually does not need to be releasedcompletely. To avoid this case, the first time interval may be preset inthe source eNB to reserve the cooperative bearer context of the secondcommunication device for a time period, for example, one or two minutes.After the first time interval expires, whether the second communicationdevice is still served by the source eNB is determined, and if thesecond communication device is still served by the source eNB, thesecond configuring module 504 is triggered to send a connectionconfiguration message to the second communication device; otherwise, itindicates that the second communication device has been handed over toanother eNB, and the second configuring module 504 does not need to senda connection configuration message to the second communication device.

The radio network temporary identifier saving module 508 is configuredto save, in the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device, the eNB identifier of the handover target eNB ofthe first communication device and the radio network temporaryidentifier that is allocated to the first communication device by thehandover target eNB of the first communication device. Specifically,after the handover acknowledge receiving module 506 receives thehandover acknowledge message sent by the handover target eNB of thefirst communication device, the radio network temporary identifiersaving module 508 of the source eNB saves, in the bearer context betweenthe source eNB and the second communication device, the eNB identifierof the handover target eNB of the first communication device and theradio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device.

The first configuring module 503 is configured to send a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device after thehandover acknowledge receiving module 506 receives the handoveracknowledge message sent by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device; and send a connection configuration message to thesecond communication device after the handover acknowledge receivingmodule 506 receives the handover acknowledge message sent by thehandover target eNB of the second communication device. Specifically,the connection configuration message sent to the first communicationdevice carries the second bearer context that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, to instruct the first communication device torelease the cooperative bearer context between the first communicationdevice and the source eNB and instruct the first communication device toinitiate a random access procedure to the handover target eNB of thefirst communication device according to the second bearer context thatis allocated to the first communication device by the handover targeteNB of the first communication device. The connection configurationmessage that is sent by the first configuring module 503 to the secondcommunication device when the handover confirming module 502 confirmsthat the second communication device needs to perform the communicationhandover is similar, and is not further described. Specifically, theconnection configuration message that is sent by the first configuringmodule 503 to the first communication device or the second communicationdevice may be an RRC (Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource ControlProtocol) connection reconfiguration message, to instruct the firstcommunication device or the second communication device to perform abearer context reconfiguration, including releasing a bearer contextthat needs to be reconfigured. In this embodiment, the firstcommunication device or the second communication device is instructed torelease the cooperative bearer context between the first communicationdevice or the second communication device and the source eNB.

The second configuring module 504 is configured to send the connectionconfiguration message to the second communication device after the firstdetermining module 507 obtains a positive determining result, so thatthe second communication device releases a cooperative bearer contextbetween the second communication device and the first communicationdevice and the cooperative bearer context between the secondcommunication device and the source eNB.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a handovertarget eNB according to another embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in the figure, the handover target eNB in the embodiment includesa handover request acquiring module 601, a bearer allocating module 602,a handover acknowledge sending module 603, a radio network temporaryidentifier allocating module 604, a second determining module 605, apairing synthesizing module 606, a third configuring module 607, areport information acquiring module 608, a third determining module 609,a handover request sending module 610, a handover acknowledge receivingmodule 611, and a fourth configuring module 612.

The handover request acquiring module 601 is configured to acquire ahandover request message from a source eNB, where a handover requestmessage for a first communication device that first performs a handoverincludes a bearer context between the source eNB and the firstcommunication device, and a handover request message for a secondcommunication device may include a bearer context between the source eNBand the second communication device, and further includes a eNBidentifier of the handover target eNB of the first communication deviceand a radio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, where the eNB identifier and the radio networktemporary identifier are saved by the source eNB in the bearer contextbetween the source eNB and the second communication device. The firstcommunication device and the second communication device are mutuallycooperative communication devices. The first communication device is acommunication device that first needs to perform a communicationhandover in this embodiment, and may be a supporting device or abenefited device. The second communication device is a cooperativecommunication device of the first communication device. When the firstcommunication device is a supporting device, a cooperative communicationdevice of the first communication device, that is, the secondcommunication device, is a benefited device. When the secondcommunication device is a benefited device, a cooperative communicationdevice of the second communication device, that is, the secondcommunication device, is a supporting device.

The bearer allocating module 602 is configured to allocate a secondbearer context to the first communication device according to a firstbearer context between the source eNB and the first communication devicein the handover request message after the handover request acquiringmodule 601 acquires the handover request message for the firstcommunication device; and allocate a second bearer context to the secondcommunication device according to a first bearer context between thesource eNB and the second communication device in the handover requestmessage after the handover request acquiring module 601 acquires thehandover request message for the second communication device.

The radio network temporary identifier allocating module 604 isconfigured to: after the handover request acquiring module 601 acquiresthe handover request message, allocate a radio network temporaryidentifier to the first communication device or the second communicationdevice which needs to perform a communication handover and for which thehandover request message is sent.

The handover acknowledge sending module 603 is configured to send ahandover acknowledge message to the source eNB, where the handoveracknowledge message includes the second bearer context that is allocatedto the first communication device or the second communication device bythe bearer allocating module 602, the eNB identifier of the handovertarget eNB, and the radio network temporary identifier that is allocatedto the first communication device or the second communication device bythe radio network temporary identifier allocating module 604.

The second determining module 605 is configured to: after the handoveracknowledge sending module 603 sends the handover acknowledge messagefor the first communication device to the source eNB, when a second timeinterval expires, determine whether the handover request message for thesecond communication device is received and whether the firstcommunication device is still served by the handover target eNB, wherethe handover request message for the second communication deviceincludes the first bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device, the eNB identifier of the handover target eNB ofthe first communication device, and the radio network temporaryidentifier that is allocated to the first communication device by thehandover target eNB of the first communication device. Specifically, thesecond time interval is a time period for reserving a cooperative bearercontext between the first communication device and the secondcommunication device by the handover target eNB. When the handoverrequest acquiring module 601 receives, in the second time interval, thehandover request message including the eNB identifier of the handovertarget eNB and the radio network temporary identifier that is previouslyallocated to the first communication device, the second determiningmodule 605 may obtain a positive determining result, and trigger thepairing synthesizing module 606 to perform cooperative communicationpairing for the first communication device and the second communicationdevice that are both handed over to the current target eNB.

The pairing synthesizing module 606 is configured to: when thedetermining result obtained by the second determining module 605 is yes,perform cooperative communication pairing for the first communicationdevice and the second communication device according to the radionetwork temporary identifier, which is allocated to the firstcommunication device, in the handover request message for the secondcommunication device.

The third configuring module 607 is configured to: when the determiningresult obtained by the second determining module 605 is no, that is,when the handover request message for the second communication device isnot received in the second time interval or the first communicationdevice is no longer served by the handover target eNB when the secondtime interval expires, send a connection configuration message to thefirst communication device, so that the first communication devicereleases all cooperative bearer contexts.

The report information acquiring module 608 is configured to acquirereport information of the first communication device. Specifically,after the handover acknowledge sending module 603 sends the handoveracknowledge message for the first communication device to the sourceeNB, the source eNB sends a connection configuration message to thefirst communication device, where the connection configuration messagecarries the bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice by the handover target eNB. After receiving the connectionconfiguration message, the first communication device initiates a randomaccess procedure to the handover target eNB. Then the report informationacquiring module 608 can acquire the report information of the firstcommunication device, where the report information may include signalstrength and/or quality of a current cell in which the firstcommunication device is located and signal strength and quality of aneighboring cell.

The third determining module 609 is configured to: after the handoveracknowledge sending module 603 sends the handover acknowledge message tothe source eNB, when a third time interval expires, determine, accordingto the report information of the first communication device, whether thefirst communication device needs to perform a communication handover toa second target eNB, where the second target eNB is a handover targeteNB to which the first communication device will perform a secondhandover.

The handover request sending module 610 is configured to send a handoverrequest message to the second target eNB when a determining result ofthe third determining module 609 is yes, where the handover requestmessage includes a non-cooperative bearer context between the handovertarget eNB and the first communication device, that is, only thenon-cooperative bearer context of the first communication device ishanded over to the second target eNB.

The handover acknowledge receiving module 611 is configured to acquire ahandover acknowledge message returned by the second target eNB, wherethe handover acknowledge message includes a bearer context that isallocated to the first communication device by the second target eNB.Because the handover request message sent by the handover requestsending module 610 includes only the non-cooperative bearer context ofthe first communication device, the second target eNB also allocatesonly a corresponding non-cooperative bearer context to the firstcommunication device.

The fourth configuring module 612 is configured to send a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device, where theconnection configuration message carries the bearer context that isallocated to the first communication device by the second target eNB, sothat the first communication device releases all cooperative bearercontexts and initiates a random access procedure to the second targeteNB according to the bearer context that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the second target eNB.

A first communication device provided in an embodiment of the presentinvention may be a supporting device or a benefited device. As shown inFIG. 10, the first communication device may include:

a report information sending module 1001, configured to send reportinformation to a source eNB, so that the source eNB confirms, accordingto the report information, that the first communication device needs toperform a communication handover;

a connection configuration acquiring module 1002, configured to receivea connection configuration message from the source eNB after the sourceeNB confirms that the first communication device needs to perform thecommunication handover, where in an optional embodiment, the connectionconfiguration message acquired by the connection configuration acquiringmodule 1002 from the source eNB further includes a bearer context thatis allocated to the first communication device by a handover target eNBof the first communication device; and

a bearer releasing module 1003, configured to release a cooperativebearer context between the first communication device and the source eNBaccording to the connection configuration message that is acquired bythe connection configuration acquiring module 1002, where in an optionalembodiment, the bearer releasing module 1003 is further configured torelease a cooperative bearer context between the first communicationdevice and a second communication device according to the connectionconfiguration message, and the second communication device is acooperative communication device of the communication device.

Optionally, the first communication device may further include:

a random access module 1004, configured to initiate a random accessprocedure to the handover target eNB according to the bearer contextthat is allocated to the first communication device by the handovertarget eNB.

A second communication device provided in an embodiment of the presentinvention may be a supporting device or a benefited device. As shown inFIG. 11, the second communication device may include:

a connection configuration acquiring module 1101, configured to receivea connection configuration message from a source eNB; and

a bearer releasing module 1102, configured to release a cooperativebearer context between the second communication device and a firstcommunication device and a cooperative bearer context between the secondcommunication device and the source eNB according to the connectionconfiguration message, where the first communication device is acooperative communication device of the communication device.

Optionally, the second communication device may further include:

a report information sending module 1103, configured to send reportinformation to the source eNB, so that the source eNB confirms,according to the report information, that the communication device needsto perform a communication handover.

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of a first embodiment of a cooperativecommunication processing method according to the present invention. Asshown in the figure, the cooperative communication processing method inthe first embodiment of the present invention includes:

S701. A source eNB acquires report information of a first communicationdevice. In specific implementation, the first communication device inthis embodiment is a communication device that needs to perform acommunication handover, and may be a supporting device or a benefiteddevice. The report information may include but is not limited toinformation such as signal quality or strength of a current cell inwhich the first communication device is located and signal quality orstrength of a neighboring cell.

S702. The source eNB determines, according to the report information ofthe first communication device, whether the first communication deviceneeds to perform a communication handover. In specific implementation,according to the report information of the first communication devicethat is acquired in S701 and indicates, for example, that the signalquality or strength of the current cell in which the first communicationdevice is located is less than a threshold, or is poorer than that ofthe neighboring cell, and that a difference exceeds a threshold, thesource eNB may confirm that the first communication device needs toperform the communication handover, and then executes S703.

S703. The source eNB sends a connection configuration message to thefirst communication device, so that the first communication devicereleases a cooperative bearer context between the first communicationdevice and the source eNB. In another optional embodiment, sending aconnection configuration message to the first communication device mayfurther cause the first communication device to release a cooperativebearer context between the first communication device and a secondcommunication device. The connection configuration message in thepresent invention may include at least one signaling interaction betweena eNB and a communication device. Delivery of the connectionconfiguration message may be completed through multiple back-and-forthmessage interactions, so that the communication device performs a radioresource configuration according to the connection configurationmessage. Specifically, the connection configuration message sent by thesource eNB to the first communication device may be an RRC (RadioResource Control, Radio Resource Control Protocol) connectionreconfiguration message, to instruct the first communication device toperform a bearer context reconfiguration, including releasing a bearercontext that needs to be reconfigured. In this embodiment, the firstcommunication device is instructed to release the cooperative bearercontext between the first communication device and the source eNB, andthe first communication device may further be instructed to release thecooperative bearer context between the communication device and thesecond communication device. Bearer contexts of the first communicationdevice include cooperative bearer contexts and non-cooperative bearercontexts, where the cooperative bearer contexts of the firstcommunication device include the cooperative bearer context between thefirst communication device and the second communication device and thecooperative bearer context between the first communication device andthe source eNB. When the first communication device further has acooperative communication relationship with another communicationdevice, the bearer contexts may further include a cooperative bearercontext between the first communication device and the anothercooperative communication device. In another embodiment, for example,when the first communication device has only a cooperative bearercontext, the connection configuration message sent by the source eNB tothe first communication device may also be an RRC connection releasemessage, to instruct the first communication device to release allbearer contexts.

S704. The first communication device releases the cooperative bearercontext between the first communication device and the source eNB.

S705. The source eNB sends a connection configuration message to thesecond communication device, so that the second communication devicereleases the cooperative bearer context between the second communicationdevice and the first communication device and a cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the source eNB. Thesecond communication device is a cooperative communication device of thefirst communication device. When the first communication device is asupporting device, a cooperative communication device of the firstcommunication device, that is, the second communication device, is abenefited device. When the second communication device is a benefiteddevice, a cooperative communication device of the second communicationdevice, that is, the second communication device, is a supportingdevice. In specific implementation, the connection configuration messagesent by the source eNB to the second communication device may be an RRCconnection reconfiguration message, to instruct the second communicationdevice to perform a bearer context reconfiguration, including releasinga bearer context that needs to be reconfigured. In this embodiment, thesecond communication device is instructed to release the cooperativebearer context between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and the cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the source eNB. Bearer contexts of thesecond communication device include cooperative bearer contexts andnon-cooperative bearer contexts, where the cooperative bearer contextsof the second communication device include the cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and the cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the source eNB. When the secondcommunication device further has a cooperative communicationrelationship with another communication device, the bearer contextsfurther include a cooperative bearer context between the secondcommunication device and the another cooperative communication device.Optionally, the source eNB may perform cooperative communication pairingfor the second communication device again after sending the connectionconfiguration message to the second communication device. It should bepointed out that, there is no limitation on a necessary logical timesequence between S703 and S705. An execution sequence of the two stepsmay be reversed, which does not affect implementation of the presentinvention.

S706. The second communication device releases the cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and the cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the source eNB.

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a second embodiment of a cooperativecommunication processing method according to the present invention. Asshown in the figure, the cooperative communication processing method inthe second embodiment of the present invention includes:

S801 and S802 are the same as S701 and S702 in the first embodiment ofthe present invention, and are not further described herein.

S803. The source eNB determines whether all bearer contexts of the firstcommunication device are cooperative bearer contexts. In thisembodiment, the first communication device is a communication devicethat needs to perform a communication handover, and may be a supportingdevice or a benefited device. A cooperative communication device of thefirst communication device is a second communication device. If adetermining result is yes, procedure A is executed, or if a determiningresult is no, procedure B is executed.

Procedure A includes S804 to S807.

S804. The source eNB sends a connection configuration message to thefirst communication device, to instruct the first communication deviceto release a cooperative bearer context between the first communicationdevice and the source eNB and a cooperative bearer context between thefirst communication device and the second communication device. In thisembodiment, the connection configuration message sent by the source eNBto the first communication device in S804 may be an RRC connectionrelease message, to instruct the first communication device to releaseall bearer contexts.

S805. The first communication device releases all cooperative bearercontexts. According to the determining result in S803, the firstcommunication device has no non-cooperative bearer context. Therefore,in this case, the first communication device may release all the bearercontexts.

S806. The source eNB sends a connection configuration message to thesecond communication device, so that the second communication devicereleases the cooperative bearer context between the second communicationdevice and the first communication device and a cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the source eNB.Optionally, the source eNB may perform cooperative communication pairingfor the second communication device again after sending the connectionconfiguration message to the second communication device. It should bepointed out that, there is no limitation on a necessary logical timesequence between S806 and S804. An execution sequence of the two stepsmay be reversed, which does not affect implementation of thisembodiment.

S807. The second communication device releases the cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and the cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the source eNB.

Procedure B includes S808 b to S814 b.

S808 b. The source eNB sends a handover request message to a handovertarget eNB of the first communication device, where the handover requestmessage includes a first bearer context between the source eNB and thefirst communication device, and the first bearer context includes anon-cooperative bearer context between the source eNB and the firstcommunication device, and further, in this embodiment, the handoverrequest message may further include a cooperative bearer context betweenthe source eNB and the first communication device, that is, all bearercontexts of the first communication device are handed over to thehandover target eNB.

S809 b. The source eNB receives a handover acknowledge message from thehandover target eNB of the first communication device, where thehandover acknowledge message includes a second bearer context that isallocated to the first communication device according to the firstbearer context by the handover target eNB of the first communicationdevice. The second bearer context is corresponding to the bearer contextthat is allocated to the first communication device by the source eNB.The handover target eNB allocates the second bearer context to the firstcommunication device, so that the first communication device maysmoothly complete a handover process between communication eNBs.Specifically, after receiving the handover request message sent by thesource eNB, the handover target eNB of the first communication deviceallocates the corresponding second bearer context to the firstcommunication device according to the first bearer context of the firstcommunication device that is carried in the handover request message.That is, if the handover request message carries only thenon-cooperative bearer context between the source eNB and the firstcommunication device, the handover target eNB of the first communicationdevice also allocates only a corresponding non-cooperative bearercontext to the first communication device.

S810 b. The source eNB sends a connection configuration message to thefirst communication device. The connection configuration message sent tothe first communication device in S810 b carries the second bearercontext that is allocated to the first communication device by thehandover target eNB, to instruct the first communication device torelease all cooperative bearer contexts and instruct the firstcommunication device to initiate a random access procedure to thehandover target eNB according to the second bearer context that isallocated to the first communication device by the handover target eNB.

S811 b. The first communication device releases all the cooperativebearer contexts.

S812 b. The first communication device initiates the random accessprocedure to the handover target eNB. Specifically, the firstcommunication device may initiate the random access procedure to thehandover target eNB according to the second bearer context, which isallocated to the first communication device by the handover target eNB,in the connection configuration message delivered by the source eNB inS810 b.

S813 b. The source eNB sends a connection configuration message to thesecond communication device, so that the second communication devicereleases a cooperative bearer context between the second communicationdevice and the first communication device and a cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the source eNB.Optionally, the source eNB may perform cooperative communication pairingfor the second communication device again after sending the connectionconfiguration message to the second communication device. It should bepointed out that, there is no limitation on a necessary logical timesequence between S811 b and S813 b. An execution sequence of the twosteps may be reversed, which does not affect implementation of thisembodiment.

S814 b. The second communication device releases the cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and the cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the source eNB.

FIG. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a third embodiment of a cooperativecommunication processing method according to the present invention. Asshown in the figure, the cooperative communication processing method inthe third embodiment includes:

S901. A source eNB acquires report information of a first communicationdevice. The report information may include but is not limited toinformation such as signal quality or strength of a current cell inwhich the first communication device is located and signal quality orstrength of a neighboring cell. The first communication device and asecond communication device are mutually cooperative communicationdevices. The first communication device is a communication device thatfirst needs to perform a communication handover in this embodiment, andmay be a supporting device or a benefited device. When the firstcommunication device is a supporting device, a cooperative communicationdevice of the first communication device, that is, the secondcommunication device, is a benefited device. When the secondcommunication device is a benefited device, a cooperative communicationdevice of the second communication device, that is, the secondcommunication device, is a supporting device.

S902. The source eNB acquires report information of the secondcommunication device. The report information may include informationsuch as signal quality or strength of a current cell in which the secondcommunication device is located and signal quality or strength of aneighboring cell. In specific implementation, S901 and S902 may beperformed simultaneously.

S903. The source eNB determines, according to the report information ofthe first communication device, whether the first communication deviceneeds to perform a communication handover, and if the firstcommunication device needs to perform the communication handover,executes S904. In specific implementation, according to the reportinformation of the first communication device that is acquired in S901and indicates, for example, that the signal quality or strength of thecurrent cell in which the first communication device is located is lessthan a threshold, or is poorer than that of the neighboring cell, andthat a difference exceeds a threshold, the source eNB may confirm thatthe first communication device needs to perform the communicationhandover, and then executes S904.

S904. The source eNB sends a handover request message to a handovertarget eNB of the first communication device, where the handover requestmessage includes a first bearer context between the source eNB and thefirst communication device. In this embodiment, the first bearer contextbetween the source eNB and the first communication device in thehandover request message sent by the source eNB to the handover targeteNB of the first communication device includes a cooperative bearercontext and a non-cooperative bearer context, that is, all bearercontexts between the source eNB and the first communication device arehanded over to the handover target eNB.

S905. The source eNB receives a handover acknowledge message from thehandover target eNB of the first communication device, where thehandover acknowledge message includes a second bearer context that isallocated to the first communication device by the handover target eNBof the first communication device. Specifically, after receiving thehandover request message sent by the source eNB, the handover target eNBof the first communication device allocates the corresponding secondbearer context to the first communication device according to the firstbearer context of the first communication device that is carried in thehandover request message, and then returns the handover acknowledgemessage carrying the second bearer context that is allocated to thefirst communication device.

S906. After sending the handover acknowledge message to the source eNB,the handover target eNB starts to star Timer2 and a Timer3, where asecond time interval preset in the Timer2 is a time period for reservinga cooperative communication relationship between the first communicationdevice and the second communication device by the handover target eNB,and a third time interval preset in the Timer3 is a time period fordetecting, by the handover target eNB, whether the first communicationdevice performs a second handover in a short time.

S907. After receiving the handover acknowledge message sent by thehandover target eNB, the source eNB starts timing of a Timer1, where afirst time interval preset in the Timer1 is a time period for reservinga cooperative bearer context of the second communication device by thesource eNB.

S908. The source eNB saves, in a bearer context between the source eNBand the second communication device, a eNB identifier of the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device and a radio networktemporary identifier that is allocated to the first communication deviceby the handover target eNB of the first communication device.Specifically, after receiving the handover acknowledge message sent bythe handover target eNB of the first communication device, the sourceeNB saves, in the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device, the eNB identifier of the handover target eNB ofthe first communication device and the radio network temporaryidentifier that is allocated to the first communication device by thehandover target eNB of the first communication device.

S909. The source eNB sends a connection configuration message to thefirst communication device. In this embodiment, the connectionconfiguration message sent by the source eNB to the first communicationdevice in S909 may be an RRC connection reconfiguration message. Theconnection configuration message carries the second bearer context thatis allocated to the first communication device by the handover targeteNB, to instruct the first communication device to release a cooperativebearer context between the first communication device and the source eNBand instruct the first communication device to initiate a random accessprocedure to the handover target eNB according to the second bearercontext that is allocated to the first communication device by thehandover target eNB.

S910. The first communication device releases the cooperative bearercontext between the first communication device and the source eNBaccording to the received connection configuration message.

S911. The first communication device initiates the random accessprocedure to the handover target eNB according to the second bearercontext, which is allocated to the first communication device by thehandover target eNB, in the received connection configuration message.

S912. The handover target eNB acquires the report information of thefirst communication device. In specific implementation, after receivingthe connection configuration message, the first communication deviceinitiates the random access procedure to the handover target eNB, andthen the handover target eNB can acquire the report information of thefirst communication device, where the report information may include theinformation such as the signal strength and quality of the current cellin which the first communication device is located and the signalstrength and quality of the neighboring cell.

S913. The source eNB determines, according to the report information ofthe second communication device, whether the second communication deviceneeds to perform a communication handover, and if the secondcommunication device needs to perform the communication handover,executes S914. Being similar to S903, the source eNB determines,according to the report information of the second communication devicethat is acquired in S901, whether the second communication device needsto perform the communication handover. For example, if the signalquality or strength of the current cell in which the secondcommunication device is located is less than a threshold, or is poorerthan that of the neighboring cell, and a difference exceeds a threshold,it may be confirmed that the second communication device needs toperform the communication handover. In this embodiment, a handovertarget eNB of the second communication device is the same as thehandover target eNB of the first communication device, that is, afterthe first communication device is handed over to the handover targeteNB, the second communication device is also handed over to the sametarget eNB.

S914. The source eNB sends a handover request message to the handovertarget eNB of the second communication device, where the handoverrequest message for the second communication device may include thebearer context between the source eNB and the second communicationdevice, and further include the eNB identifier of the handover targeteNB of the first communication device and the radio network temporaryidentifier that is allocated to the first communication device by thehandover target eNB of the first communication device, where the eNBidentifier and the radio network temporary identifier are saved in thebearer context between the source eNB and the second communicationdevice by the source eNB in step S908.

S915. The source eNB receives a handover acknowledge message from thehandover target eNB of the second communication device, where thehandover acknowledge message includes a bearer context that is allocatedto the second communication device by the handover target eNB of thesecond communication device, a eNB identifier of the handover target eNBof the second communication device, and a radio network temporaryidentifier that is allocated to the second communication device by thehandover target eNB of the second communication device. Specifically,after receiving the handover request message sent by the source eNB, thehandover target eNB of the second communication device allocates thecorresponding bearer context to the second communication deviceaccording to the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device that is carried in the handover request message,and further allocates the radio network temporary identifier to thesecond communication device, and returns, to the source eNB, thehandover acknowledge message carrying the radio network temporaryidentifier.

S916 a. When the Timer3 expires, that is, after the handover target eNBsends the handover acknowledge message to the source eNB, when the thirdtime interval expires, the handover target eNB confirms, according tothe report information of the first communication device, that the firstcommunication device needs to perform a communication handover to thesecond target eNB, that is, determines a handover target eNB to whichthe first communication device will perform a second handover.

S917 a. When the Timer3 expires, after it is determined that the firstcommunication device needs to perform the communication handover to thesecond target eNB, the handover target eNB sends a handover requestmessage to the second target eNB, where the handover request messageincludes a non-cooperative bearer context between the handover targeteNB and the first communication device, only the non-cooperative bearercontext of the first communication device is handed over to the secondtarget base station.

S918 a. The handover target eNB acquires a handover acknowledge messagefrom the second target eNB, where the handover acknowledge messagecarries a bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice by the second target eNB.

S919 a. The handover target eNB sends a connection configuration messageto the first communication device according to the handover acknowledgemessage acquired from the second target eNB, where the connectionconfiguration message carries the bearer context that is allocated tothe first communication device by the second target eNB.

S920 a. The first communication device releases all cooperative bearercontexts.

S921 a. The first communication device initiates a random accessprocedure to the second target eNB according to the bearer context,which is allocated to the first communication device by the secondtarget eNB, in the connection configuration message acquired from thehandover target eNB.

S916 b. When the Timer2 expires, that is, after the handover target eNBsends the handover acknowledge message for the first communicationdevice to the source eNB, when the second time interval expires, thehandover target eNB determines whether the handover request message forthe second communication device is received and whether the firstcommunication device is still served by the handover target eNB, wherethe handover request message for the second communication deviceincludes the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device, the eNB identifier of the handover target eNB, andthe radio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device. Specifically, the second time interval is a timeperiod for reserving a cooperative bearer context between the firstcommunication device and the second communication device by the handovertarget eNB. When the handover target eNB receives, in the second timeinterval, the handover request message including the eNB identifier ofthe handover target eNB and the radio network temporary identifier thatis allocated to the first communication device, and the firstcommunication device is still served by the handover target eNB when thesecond time interval expires, a positive determining result may beobtained in step S916 b, and execution of S917 b is triggered;otherwise, step S918 b is executed. It should be pointed out that, thereis no limitation on a necessary logical time sequence between S916 b andS916 a. An execution sequence of the two steps may be reversed, whichdoes not affect implementation of the present invention.

S917 b. When a determining result obtained in step S916 b is yes, thehandover target eNB performs cooperative communication pairing for thefirst communication device and the second communication device accordingto the radio network temporary identifier, which is allocated to thefirst communication device, in the handover request message for thesecond communication device.

S918 b. When the determining result obtained in step S916 b is no, thehandover target eNB sends a connection configuration message to thefirst communication device, so that the first communication devicereleases all cooperative bearer contexts.

S919 b. The first communication device releases all the cooperativebearer contexts according to the received connection configurationmessage.

S916 c. When the Timer1 expires, that is, after the source eNB receivesthe handover acknowledge message from the handover target eNB of thefirst communication device, when the first time interval expires, thesource eNB determines whether the second communication device is stillserved by the source eNB.

S917 c. When a determining result obtained in S916 c is yes, the sourceeNB sends a connection configuration message to the second communicationdevice, so that the second communication device releases a cooperativebearer context between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and a cooperative bearer context between the secondcommunication device and the source eNB. The connection configurationmessage herein may be an RRC connection configuration message. Further,optionally, after sending the connection configuration message to thesecond communication device, the source eNB may perform cooperativecommunication pairing for the second communication device again.

S918 c. The second communication device releases the cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and the cooperative bearer context between thesecond communication device and the source eNB according to the receivedconnection configuration message.

According to the present invention, when a source eNB determines thateither one of cooperative communication devices needs to perform acommunication handover, the source eNB sends a connection configurationmessage to each of two devices, so that the two devices release acooperative bearer context. Further, a reserving time period is set atthe source eNB and a handover target eNB. Therefore, release ormaintenance processing of a cooperative communication relationshipbetween cooperative communication devices in a communication handoverprocess can be implemented.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or a partof the procedures of the methods in the foregoing embodiments may beimplemented by a computer program instructing relevant hardware. Theprogram may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. When theprogram runs, the procedures of the methods in the foregoing embodimentsare performed. The storage medium may include: a magnetic disk, anoptical disc, a read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), or a randomaccess memory (Random Access Memory, RAM).

Only exemplary embodiments of the present invention are disclosed above,and certainly are not intended to limit the scope of claims of thepresent invention. A person of ordinary skill in the art may understandthat, all or some procedures for implementing the foregoing embodimentsand equivalent variations made according to the claims of the presentinvention shall also fall within the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cooperative communication processing method,wherein the method comprises: acquiring report information of a firstcommunication device, wherein the first communication device is asupporting device or a benefited device; and if it is determined,according to the report information of the first communication device,that the first communication device needs to perform a handover,executing the following steps: sending a connection configurationmessage to the first communication device, so that the firstcommunication device releases a cooperative bearer context between thefirst communication device and a source eNB; and sending a connectionconfiguration message to a second communication device, so that thesecond communication device releases a cooperative bearer contextbetween the second communication device and the first communicationdevice and a cooperative bearer context between the second communicationdevice and the source eNB, wherein the second communication device is acooperative communication device of the first communication device. 2.The method according to claim 1, wherein after it is determined,according to the report information of the first communication device,that the first communication device needs to perform the handover, andbefore the sending a connection configuration message to the firstcommunication device, the method further comprises: determining that allbearer contexts of the first communication device are cooperative bearercontexts.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein after it isdetermined, according to the report information of the firstcommunication device, that the first communication device needs toperform the handover, and before the sending a connection configurationmessage to the first communication device, the method further comprises:confirming that a bearer context of the first communication devicecomprises a non-cooperative bearer context; sending a handover requestmessage to a handover target eNB of the first communication device,wherein the handover request message comprises a first bearer contextbetween the source eNB and the first communication device, and the firstbearer context comprises a non-cooperative bearer context between thesource eNB and the first communication device; and receiving a handoverrequest acknowledge message from the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, wherein the handover acknowledge message comprisesa second bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice according to the first bearer context by the handover target eNBof the first communication device; and the sending a connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device comprises:sending the connection configuration message to the first communicationdevice, wherein the connection configuration message carries the secondbearer context that is allocated to the first communication device bythe handover target eNB of the first communication device, so that thefirst communication device initiates a random access procedure to thehandover target eNB of the first communication device according to thesecond bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice by the handover target eNB of the first communication device. 4.The method according to claim 3, wherein the first bearer contextfurther comprises the cooperative bearer context between the source eNBand the first communication device.
 5. The method according to claim 1,wherein before the sending a connection configuration message to thefirst communication device, the method further comprises: sending ahandover request message to a handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, wherein the handover request message comprises afirst bearer context between the source eNB and the first communicationdevice, and the first bearer context comprises the cooperative bearercontext and a non-cooperative bearer context between the source eNB andthe first communication device; and receiving a handover acknowledgemessage from the handover target eNB of the first communication device,wherein the handover acknowledge message comprises a second bearercontext that is allocated to the first communication device according tothe first bearer context by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device; and the sending a connection configuration messageto the first communication device comprises: sending the connectionconfiguration message to the first communication device, wherein theconnection configuration message carries the second bearer context thatis allocated to the first communication device by the handover targeteNB of the first communication device, so that the first communicationdevice initiates a random access procedure to the handover target eNB ofthe first communication device according to the second bearer contextthat is allocated to the first communication device by the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device.
 6. The method according toclaim 3, wherein before the sending a connection configuration messageto a second communication device, the method further comprises: afterthe handover acknowledge message is received from the handover targeteNB of the first communication device, when a first time intervalreaches a threshold, confirming that the second communication device isstill served by the source base station.
 7. The method according toclaim 3, wherein the handover acknowledge message further comprises aeNB identifier of the handover target eNB of the first communicationdevice and a radio network temporary identifier that is allocated to thefirst communication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, and the method further comprises: saving, in thecooperative bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device that is saved in the source eNB, the eNB identifierof the handover target eNB of the first communication device and theradio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein themethod further comprises: acquiring report information of the secondcommunication device; determining, according to the acquired reportinformation of the second communication device, whether the secondcommunication device needs to perform handover processing; and if thesecond communication device needs to perform the handover processing,sending a handover request message to a handover target eNB of thesecond communication device, wherein the handover request messagecomprises the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device, the eNB identifier of the handover target eNB ofthe first communication device, and the radio network temporaryidentifier that is allocated to the first communication device by thehandover target eNB of the first communication device.
 9. A source eNBfor implementing cooperative communication processing, wherein thesource eNB comprises: a report information acquiring module, configuredto acquire report information of a first communication device, whereinthe first communication device is a supporting device or a benefiteddevice, and a cooperative communication device of the firstcommunication device is a second communication device; a handoverconfirming module, configured to determine, according to the reportinformation of the first communication device acquired by the reportinformation acquiring module, whether the first communication deviceneeds to perform a handover; a first configuring module, configured tosend a connection configuration message to the first communicationdevice when the handover confirming module determines that the firstcommunication device needs to perform the handover, so that the firstcommunication device releases a cooperative bearer context between thefirst communication device and the source eNB; and a second configuringmodule, configured to send a connection configuration message to thesecond communication device when the handover confirming module confirmsthat the first communication device needs to perform the handover, sothat the second communication device releases a cooperative bearercontext between the second communication device and the firstcommunication device and a cooperative bearer context between the secondcommunication device and the source eNB.
 10. The source eNB according toclaim 9, wherein the source eNB further comprises: a cooperative bearercontext determining module, configured to confirm that all bearercontexts of the first communication device are cooperative bearercontexts, when the handover confirming module confirms that the firstcommunication device needs to perform the handover.
 11. The source eNBaccording to claim 9, wherein the source eNB further comprises: acooperative bearer determining module, configured to confirm that abearer context of the first communication device comprises anon-cooperative bearer context, when the handover confirming moduleconfirms that the first communication device needs to perform thehandover; a handover request sending module, configured to send ahandover request message to a handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device when the cooperative bearer determining moduleconfirms that the bearer context of the first communication devicecomprises a non-cooperative bearer context, wherein the handover requestmessage comprises a first bearer context between the source eNB and thefirst communication device, and the first bearer context comprises anon-cooperative bearer context between the source eNB and the firstcommunication device; and a handover acknowledge receiving module,configured to receive a handover acknowledge message from the handovertarget eNB of the first communication device, wherein the handoveracknowledge message comprises a second bearer context that is allocatedto the first communication device according to the first bearer contextby the handover target eNB of the first communication device; whereinthe first configuring module is specifically configured to: when thecooperative bearer determining module determines that the bearer contextof the first communication device comprises a non-cooperative bearercontext, send the connection configuration message to the firstcommunication device, wherein the connection configuration messagecarries the second bearer context that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device and received by the handover acknowledge receivingmodule, so that the first communication device initiates a random accessprocedure to the handover target eNB of the first communication deviceaccording to the second bearer context that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device.
 12. The source eNB according to claim 11, whereinthe handover request message sent by the handover request sending moduleto the handover target eNB of the first communication device furthercomprises the cooperative bearer context between the source eNB and thefirst communication device.
 13. The source eNB according to claim 9,wherein the source eNB further comprises: a handover request sendingmodule, configured to send a handover request message to a handovertarget eNB of the first communication device, wherein the handoverrequest message comprises a first bearer context between the source eNBand the first communication device, and the first bearer contextcomprises the cooperative bearer context and a non-cooperative bearercontext between the source eNB and the first communication device; and ahandover acknowledge receiving module, configured to receive a handoveracknowledge message from the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, wherein the handover acknowledge message comprisesa second bearer context that is allocated to the first communicationdevice according to the first bearer context by the handover target eNBof the first communication device; wherein the first configuring moduleis specifically configured to: send the connection configuration messageto the first communication device, wherein the connection configurationmessage carries the second bearer context that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device and received by the handover acknowledge receivingmodule, so that the first communication device initiates a random accessprocedure to the handover target eNB of the first communication deviceaccording to the second bearer context that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device.
 14. The source eNB according to claim 11, whereinthe source eNB further comprises: a first determining module, configuredto: after the handover acknowledge receiving module receives thehandover acknowledge message from the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device, when a first time interval reaches a threshold,determine whether the second communication device is still served by thesource eNB, and if the second communication device is still served bythe source eNB, trigger the second configuring module to send theconnection configuration message to the second communication device. 15.The source eNB according to claim 11, wherein the handover acknowledgemessage received by the handover acknowledge receiving module furthercomprises a eNB identifier of the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device and a radio network temporary identifier that isallocated to the first communication device by the handover target eNBof the first communication device, and the source eNB further comprises:a radio network temporary identifier saving module, configured to save,in the bearer context between the source eNB and the secondcommunication device that is saved in the source eNB, the eNB identifierof the handover target eNB of the first communication device and theradio network temporary identifier that is allocated to the firstcommunication device by the handover target eNB of the firstcommunication device.
 16. A cooperative communication processing method,wherein the method comprises: sending, by a first communication device,report information to a source eNB, so that the source eNB confirms,according to the report information, that the first communication deviceneeds to perform a handover, wherein the first communication device is asupporting device or a benefited device; receiving, by the firstcommunication device, a connection configuration message from the sourceeNB after the source eNB confirms that the first communication deviceneeds to perform the handover; and releasing, by the first communicationdevice, a cooperative bearer context between the first communicationdevice and the source eNB according to the connection configurationmessage.
 17. The cooperative communication processing method accordingto claim 16, wherein the method further comprises: releasing, by thefirst communication device, a cooperative bearer context between thefirst communication device and a second communication device accordingto the connection configuration message, wherein the secondcommunication device is a cooperative communication device of the firstcommunication device.
 18. A communication device, wherein thecommunication device is a supporting device or a benefited device, andthe communication device comprises: a report information sending module,configured to send report information to a source eNB, so that thesource eNB confirms, according to the report information, that thecommunication device needs to perform a handover; a connectionconfiguration acquiring module, configured to acquire a connectionconfiguration message from the source eNB after the source eNB confirmsthat the communication device needs to perform the handover; and abearer context releasing module, configured to release a cooperativebearer context between the communication device and the source eNBaccording to the connection configuration message that is acquired bythe connection configuration acquiring module.
 19. The communicationdevice according to claim 18, wherein the bearer releasing module isfurther configured to release a cooperative bearer context between thecommunication device and a second communication device according to theconnection configuration message, wherein the second communicationdevice is a cooperative communication device of the communicationdevice.